The Conferring of Honorary Degrees
Jerome Mendouga

Citation Presented by Robert D. Ness, Associate Professor of English
Conferring of the degree by William G. Durden, President

Jerome Mendouga, we honor you today as the ambassador from the Republic of Cameroon to the United States of America . At a time when many students from your newly independent country pursued their educations in France or England , you chose to accept a scholarship to George Washington University , thus commencing a relationship with the U.S. that has lasted almost 50 years. After receiving your B.A. degree from George Washington University and certificates in diplomacy from American University and Johns Hopkins University , you served your country in diplomatic posts in Canada , Germany , the Soviet Union, Ethiopia , the Benelux Countries and as Special Envoy to the European Common Market in Belgium . You were appointed as ambassador to Senegal , Zaire , Burundi and Rwanda . In 1994, you returned full circle to Washington as Cameroon 's Ambassador to the United States and as Special Envoy to the United Nations. You have also found the time amidst these responsibilities to serve as President of the Board of Directors of the International Eye Foundation in Washington , D.C.

In honoring you, we also honor the people of Cameroon , who have extended their extraordinary hospitality and generosity of spirit for over fifteen years, as teachers and hosts and friends, to over 250 students who have ventured forth to Cameroon through Dickinson summer and semester programs. We also honor through you the many faculty members and students from the University of Yaoundé who have lived among us at Dickinson as teachers and colleagues and, above all, as friends.

Finally, we honor your Head of State, President Paul Biya, during whose tenure in office Cameroon has remained a sanctuary of peace and stability in a region of the world that has not lately been thus blessed. In honoring you, your President and the Cameroonian people you represent, we hope and trust that our exchange programs will continue to strengthen the goodwill between your country and ours.

President Durden, I am honored to present to you Jerome Mendouga, Ambassador to the United States from the Republic of Cameroon , for the honorary degree of Doctor of Public Service .

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Jerome Mendouga, upon the recommendation of the Faculty to the Board of Trustees, and by its mandamus, I confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Public Service, with the rights, privileges, and distinction thereunto appertaining, in token of which I present you with this diploma and cause you to be invested with the hood of Dickinson College appropriate to your degree.

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